Effectiveness of entomopathogenic fungi for management of sucking pest

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The fungus Beauveria bassiana (Ascomycota: Hypocreales) is a generalist (broad-spectrum host range) insect pathogen able to infect nearly 1000 insect species. As for other entomopathogenic fungi of the order Hypocreales, the main route of infection for B. bassiana is the penetration of the insect cuticle, which represents the first encounter and barrier between the fungus and host. Upon the adhesion to and recognition of the insect surface, B. bassiana deploys a combination of biochemical and mechanical tools to make its way through the insect integument into the hemocoel. Once the fungus reaches this nutrient-rich environment, the mycelium switches to a specialized yeast-like cell phenotype; in invertebrate pathology, they are often referred as hyphal bodies or blastospores when they are produced artificially in culture media. At this stage, the insect host has very little chance of surviving the fungal infection despite the activation of the immune response (humoral and cellular) as a last-ditch attempt to overcome the fungus.